Saturday Conference

Two great ways to enjoy the conference!

• Pick a track, such as genre, and enjoy the four genre-specific workshops throughout the day
• Pick any four workshops among the three tracks that best fit your writing needs

Craft of Writing Track:  Garden Room

Genre Track:  Alexander Room

The Genre track sessions offer tips for screenwriting, memorable writing, mystery how-to and enthusiastic writing for children and young adults.

9:30 – 10:30 am  Jon James Miller & Charlotte Cook – Screenwriting
10:45 – 11:45 am  Terry Ehret – Memoir
2:00 – 3:00 pm   Terri Thayer – Mystery Writing
3:15 – 4:15 pm  Pamela Pizzimenti – Children’s

Technology and Business Track:  Oak Room

The Technology/Business track builds sessions on name recognition, working with agents, online networking and new ways to publish.

9:30 – 10:30 am  Teresa LeYung Ryan – Building Your Name
10:45 – 11:45 am  Katherine Cowles, April Eberhardt & Andy Ross – Agents Panel
2:00 – 3:00 pm  Tanya Egan Gibson – Online Networking
3:15 – 4:15 pm  Patricia Fry – Publishing

Workshop Descriptions

Craft of Writing Track

Book Research – “Getting It Right!”

This workshop focuses on the details of historical research required to provide accurate, vibrant portrayals of both settings and people. Whether writing creative non-fiction history, historical fiction or a period novel, inaccuracies cost you readers and sales.  Concrete examples of researching the photographs needed to promote period specific details in your portrayals will be provided. The use of Sanborn Maps that include structural descriptions of each building and business coupled with photos help the author to experience that walk or drive.  Microfilm newspapers and cross-references fill in the background of the events and mores of the times including social events, entertainment, products used, criminal trends and common names.  Historic diaries provide examples of the vernacular of the times.  Techniques for researching historic persons facilitate the development of primary or secondary characters. Research examples from California will be highlighted but the techniques remain much the same across the country.

Dialogue – “Talking in Voices: Writing Dialogue in Fiction”

A practical, nuts-and-bolts session on keeping your story moving through the use of compelling dialogue.

Character – “Method, Madness & Magic: Creating Compelling Characters”

Characters begin as emanations in the mind’s eye. We’ll discuss various strategies for fleshing out those elusive beings, so that the result is compelling, surprising and convincing.

Descriptive Writing That Readers Can “Smell, Taste, Feel, Hear and See”

‘Cerulean blue water’ and ‘halcyon days.’ Blah. Can anyone actually visualize a place through these particular words? Description of background place without falling into cliche is one of the most challenging aspects of writing. In this workshop, we will read samples of descriptive place writing that overcome the formulaic, and discuss what it is about them that creates a mind-image for the reader. Then, with some simple but effective writing exercises, participants will leave armed with new techniques for creating vivid word visuals of their own.

Genre Track

Screenwriting - “Adapting Sideways: Magic and the Story Diamond”

Anyone writing a novel, whether screenwriter or practiced novelist, needs strategies and concepts to develop and test the story. In this interactive workshop, Jon Miller and Charlotte Cook will begin with a group card trick that magically shifts into a basic diagram of how novels work on the page. Together with the handout, participants will discover why certain problems happen in the development of a novel, how to resolve those issues and why a good novel has elements in common with the experience of a card trick. Be prepared to be surprised, but not tricked.

Memoir – “Outside the Box: Memoir, the Prose Poem, and Flash Fiction”

Examining selected works by Sandra Cisneros, Mary Oliver, Lyn Hejinian, Billy Collins, and others, we’ll look at how prose poem and flash-fiction techniques capture the potent memory-frames that make up our lives.

Writing for Children and YA

Writing for young adults (YAs) gives an author the opportunity to influence young readers, plus the YA market has experienced an 87 percent increase in the number of titles published in the last two years – it’s one of the healthiest segments in the industry.  Audience becomes an important consideration when drafting a YA novel. Come and become familiar with the genre and its audience, learn the difference between middle grade and YA, and focus on strategies for improving the core components of your YA book, including plot, character, subject matter, and dialogue.

Technology and Business Track

Building Your Name – “Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published”

Learn how to identify advocates, endorsers and fans; gain recognition through your mission statement; build your platform by reaching out, not stressing out.

Agents Panel

Tips on how to secure an agent and work with an agent to get your book published.

Online Networking – “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Networking (But Were Afraid To Ask)”

Networking. I’ve seen writers grimace at the mention of the word. They worry it implies glad-handing, calculation, opportunism; they worry that the word sounds corporate rather than creative. In truth, however, networking is all aboutconnection and relationships that can enhance every aspect of your writing life–from the personal (writing can be a lonely endeavor without writer-friends!) to the professional (most writers want to help other writers). Best of all, a good network of like-minded writers supports us in leading a literary life. We’ll discuss various ways of networking, including:

• Using online social networks and blogs to interact with authors, agents, and other people who love reading and writing.
• Attending writers conferences such as this one (and coming back with a network instead of just presentation notes).
• Taking part in critique groups (both the online sort and the kind that meet at a bookstore or in someone’s kitchen).
• Joining writers’ associations like the Redwood branch of the CWC, attending readings at bookstores, or even joining “real time” conversations about books or writing through online resources like Tweetchat.

For more information email:  conference@redwoodwriters.org